Campaign countdown - 21 April

1. Former Conservative Prime Minister Sir John Major warns a Labour-SNP government would be "a recipe for mayhem"
2. Labour says it would launch what it calls an "NHS rescue plan", including a recruitment drive for 1,000 new nurses
3. Ed Miliband accuses David Cameron of putting the union at risk by "talking up" the SNP
4. Nick Clegg says Lib Dems would allow councils to charge 200% council tax on second homes in rural beauty spots
5. BBC Radio One's Newsbeat stages hour-long debate on health, education and immigration for 100 young adults

Tuesday's top stories

Rows between Labour and the Conservatives about the SNP have once again featured strongly, with Tory grandees Sir John Major, Lord Tebbit and Lord Forsyth joining the debate.

• Sir John said the SNP could "blackmail" a future Labour government
• But Ed Miliband accused David Cameron of "demeaning his office" with his attacks
• UKIP wants to slash the BBC licence fee
• The Lib Dems say they would increase the council tax paid on second homes
• Conservative chairman Grant Shapps has said a Guardian story linking him with changes to Wikipedia pages is "the most bonkers story" of the campaign so far
• The DUP launched its election manifesto

Jargon busting

Newsbeat

Are you after a explanation of some of the key words and phrases being uttered on the campaign trail? Look no further. BBC Newsbeat has prepared a handy video guide to explain all.

BBC

More from Shapps

This story is based on a single Wikipedia editor who is anonymous," says Mr Shapps, complaining that the Guardian went ahead with the story anyway.

Shapps claims

Grant Shapps is talking to the BBC News Channel to deny those Guardian claims that he - or "someone acting on his behalf" - tried to edit Wikipedia pages about himself or other MPs.

"It's the most bonkers story I've seen in this election campaign so far," he says. "A simple look in my diary shows I was elsewhere."

More from Newsbeat

On the subject of health, Paul Uppal, for the Conservatives, addressed mental health spending but argued: "Money alone is not the issue." Lib Dem Norman Lamb, a health minister, promised to treat physical and mental health equally. He highlighted his party's pledge of £1.2bn for the next five years for children and young people.

On education, Labour's Emma Reynolds said: "We need to learn from countries like Germany which value apprenticeships at the same level as degrees."

BBC

Readers can continue the discussion using #Newsbeat on Twitter. Another group of young voters will meet next Tuesday in Edinburgh, when the final Newsbeat debate will focus on the cost of living, jobs and housing.

Read more: What you told Newsbeat in Birmingham

Wednesday's Times

The Times

Newsbeat recap

BBC

Newsbeat's debate in Birmingham

More than 100 young voters have been quizzing five politicians during a Newsbeat election debate at the University of Birmingham. The big themes of the night were immigration, education and health. UKIP's Steven Woolfe told the audience "none of our party have ever said we don't like immigrants" while the Green Party's Amelia Womack said "we need to take responsibility for the language we use around migration".

Tomorrow's Daily Mail

Daily Mail

'Apprentices aren't stupid'

Newsbeat

That was a lively old debate in Birmingham and we'll continue to flag up the closing highlights.

Stuart, 23, tackled the politicians on the UK's "flawed" education system, which he said needed restructuring.

BBC

Stuart, 23

It's pushed towards university and qualifications. There are too many people trying to get a small number of qualified jobs. People on apprenticeships shouldn't be viewed as stupid."

Wednesday's Financial Times

Financial Times

Jeffrey Wall

tweets :

There's a big focus on quality of teachers after training, but not on those delivering the training and this needs to be reviewed #newsbeat"

Stanley

tweets :

Education. Education. Education- and now all that is ever mentioned about it is: student and tuition fees. There is life beyond it #newsbeat"

Wikipedia claims

Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps is denying allegations that he is behind changes made to Wikipedia entries about MPs. According to the Guardian, the online encyclopedia blocked an account amid suspicion it was being used by Mr Shapps or "someone acting on his behalf" to edit pages about himself and other MPs.

But Mr Shapps said: "This Guardian smear is categorically false and defamatory. It is untrue from start to finish, and was quite likely dreamt up by the Labour press office. Sadly it is typical of the smears coming from those who would rather not debate policy and substance."

Marguerite Hogg

Newsbeat

tweets:

But it's not just about increasing the number of apprenticeships, but about improving the quality of apprenticeships #newsbeat"

Tassie

Newsbeat

tweets:

#Newsbeat why not cut the salaries of those at the very top of the NHS? No one needs £600,000/year with a pension pot of 1.5million do they?"

Alex

Newsbeat

tweets:

#Newsbeat I am fed up of kids blaming @Conservatives for NHS privatisation, @UKLabour 'privatised' more!"

Mental health debate

Newsbeat

Tamanna Miah, 21, from Sevenoaks, says: "I had a friend who [took his own life] because he had no support. The services were not there at the right time. My friend said to me 'I am struggling'.

"I gave him all these options and he said 'no, they're not helping'. He was on a waiting list for over six months."

BBC

Tamanna Miah, 21, speaking at the Newsbeat debate in Birmingham

What are you guys going to do about [it] because I don't want to see any more of my friends on Facebook say 'sorry, I'm not here any more'."

Election fun

Newsbeat

Inspired by tonight's debate? Newsbeat has developed a game all about the general election, except with party leaders as robots.

BBC

BallotBots, Newsbeat's election game

The aim of BallotBots is to pair robot politicians with robot voters while progressing through a series of zones on your way to No 10 - and avoiding the campaign pitfalls. It's available via BBC Taster.

Blaming immigrants?

Newsbeat

Peter, in the audience attacks UKIP: "Stop blaming immigrants."

However, UKIP's Steven Woolfe replies: "Look at our manifesto, say it as much as you like, it's just plain wrong."

Watch video of the exchange here

BBC

'People are worried'

Newsbeat

Amelia Womack, of the Green Party, says: "We need to take responsibility for the language we use around migration at the moment. It's clear that people are worried about things they should be worried about [NHS, housing, public service cuts]."

We cannot continue to blame immigrants for the failure of government policy."

BBC

Amelia Womack, Green Party

Dev Mistry

Newsbeat

tweets:

Immigration isn't the issue in this country. Discrimination is."

Queen's advice to Alex Salmond

PA

As a former SNP leader Alex Salmond is used to criticism coming his way but he probably wasn't expecting to be ticked off about his handwriting - by the Queen. Mr Salmond has revealed how he changed his signature after the Queen told him he had the "worst" writing of all ministers.

Mr Salmond was speaking at a question and answer session at Glasgow University after receiving an honorary degree. Mr Salmond admitted his signature was an "indecipherable scrawl" and he told the Queen he would "try to do better".

Garçon

Newsbeat

tweets:

#newsbeat so many myths about immigration. Vast majority work. They pay more in tax than they take out. 40% are students vital to uni funds."

British jobs?

Newsbeat

Ellie, 18: Nigel Farage did say British people would get jobs just because they were British. How is that fair?

BBC

Ellie, 18

Kate

tweets :

#Newsbeat debate on immigration coming from #Birmingham. A wonderful, multicultural city. #Brum"

'Equal treatment'

Newsbeat

Steven Woolfe of UKIP says: "None of our party have ever said we don't like immigrants. What we want to do is create an ethical immigration policy which allows people from all over the world to be treated equally."

So long as you have the skills, come here on a points system."

Newsbeat debate

Newsbeat

tweets:

I would like immigration control in the UK, but not at the expense of our EU membership. Very dubious its achievable"

Newsbeat debate

Newsbeat

The debate is under way, with the first topic about immigration.

"There are positive and negative immigrant stories in the UK," says Daniel, 18, from Coventry."Come to our country and do well, but [do] not come without a trade that will benefit the British economy."

BBC

Daniel, 18, from Coventry

Newsbeat debate

Newsbeat

More than 100 Radio 1 listeners are about to fire questions at five politicians - Emma Reynolds for Labour, Norman Lamb of the Lib Dems, Paul Uppal for the Conservatives, Steven Woolfe of UKIP and Amelia Womack from the Green Party. The Newsbeat debate's key themes are immigration, health and education, while Tina Daheley and Chris Smith are hosting.

BBC

The grand hall at the University of Birmingham

You can comment or post your own question using the hashtag #Newsbeat on Twitter. Follow @BBCNewsbeat for more.

Dan Hodges, Telegraph and Total Politics commentator

..a Milifandom-sceptic tweets :    

Enough. Labour can bankrupt the country. Give away Trident. Make Nicola Sturgeon Queen. But please, stop trying to spin Ed is a sex symbol."

Milifandom?

It started as a joke, says the news website Buzzfeed... but Ed Miliband is apparently developing a fanbase of teenage girls. Yes, you read that correctly. We'll let Buzzfeed explain .

Nothing adding up?

Wondering what happens if the election result is so close that neither a single party nor coalition can manage a working majority?

Then go to our YouTube channel to watch Akash Paun, of the Institute for Government, explain the process to the BBC's Christian Fraser.

BBC

Finding your child's inner activist...

Children might not be able to vote but the parenting website, Mumsnet, reckons it's still worth trying to get them interested in the election .

Tips include explaining how politics affects the issues they really care about - such as their local park or what they study at school. Mumsnet also suggests a trip to Parliament or even creating your own election campaign. Sounds like good advice for disengaged grown-ups too.

PMQs is right for Bruce

Former Conservative Scottish Secretary Lord Forsyth has been in the news today, expressing concern about the Tories' current focus on the SNP's potential influence over a minority Labour government.

And his near-namesake, Sir Bruce, has also been giving his take on the state of British politics. It seems he's not at all fed-up with mudslinging between the parties.

The entertainer told BBC Radio 5 live he loves watching Prime Minister's Questions when it gets rowdy.

BBC

All the heckling going on, working to a noisy audience. It's quite something. When Cameron and Miliband have a go at each other, it's lovely."

Today's Newsnight Index

Those clever folk atelectionforecast.co.ukhave once again been crunching the numbers to produce today's Newsnight Index, showing a prediction of the state of the parties. There's not a lot of movement, with projections that Labour could gain a seat at the expense of the Liberal Democrats but still trailing the Conservatives. An explanation of how the index is produced is available viaYouTube.

Newsnight

Tim Shipman, Sunday Times political editor

tweets:

Election is a conspiracy against journalism. Lab happy with a draw. Cons think its going to turn in last 72 hrs. No use to me either of them."

Rifkind's dilemma

LBC

Sir Malcom Rifkind is the latest former Conservative heavyweight to have his say on the political outlook in Scotland. The ex-foreign secretary has been telling LBC he would "think very carefully" about supporting another unionist candidate, were he a voter in a marginal Scottish seat, in order to keep out the SNP.

He was responding to a question about Labour, although he did not mention Ed Miliband's party in his response. "I fully confess it's a very difficult judgement and very difficult to question to answer," he added.

Playing catch-up?

If you've not had time to keep up with our live coverage throughout the day, catch on the day's campaigning via our video round-up .

Get involved

Martin Preene:

Interesting to see the Conservatives, the self-professed party of financial responsibility and competence, wheeling out John Major. I am old enough to remember the financial crisis and subsequent economic pain to the UK when he and Norman Lamont mismanaged the UK in/out to the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in the early 1990s. Not sure his track record is a great example for the future, given the uncertainty over the UK’s place in the EU.

Cameron defends anti-SNP tactics

BBC

David Cameron says it's not scaremongering to say that a minority Labour government would be held to "ransom and frankly blackmail" by the SNP.

The PM tells supporters in Halifax that Labour can only form a government "on the coat-tails of Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP".

He predicts "an endless process of negotiation and haggling, and ransom and, frankly, blackmail".

"If you think that is scaremongering," he said: "Just consider this. In the last 48 hours the SNP have said no investment in defence unless you get rid of Trident, that is a form of ransom and blackmail."

They have said no HS2 unless it starts in Scotland. That is a form of ransom and blackmail"

Get involved

Steve Hathorn, London:

A lot of people seem to have forgotten the cyclical nature of politics. Today's 'dominant party' will be the 'struggling opposition party' within a decade.

KIck out racists

One last remark from UKIP's deputy chair Suzanne Evans, who declares that party members who make racist comments are "kicked out". She says UKIP doesn't allow people who once belonged to "extreme racist groups", such as the British National Party, to join UKIP.

She adds:

And if we find that people have lied to us we kick them out, and if people make racist comments we kick them out."

Get involved

Phil Brown, Lowestoft:

I always thought that my vote was mine to do with as I think fit, apparently that is not the case and I should vote in the way either of the two principals tell me. I am 66 years old and I think this is probably the most negative campaign I can remember, full of fear, the threat of dire consequences if I don’t “toe the party line”.

UKIP: no Lords reform policy

Asked about UKIP's policy on the House of Lords, the party's deputy chair Suzanne Evans is frank. "Gosh. I'm not sure we have a party position on this to be honest," she tells the BBC's News Channel. She offers a personal opinion though - that the Lords should largely stay as it is, although she does reckon it's too big and she doesn't like its "political interference".

NHS spending

At the NHS debate, Labour's spokesman Andy Burnham said the NHS was spending a "fortune" on agencies and overseas recruitment while there was excess at the top of some NHS organisations.

Asked if he would commit to no more real-terms pay cuts he replied: "As a principle yes, I can." The Lib Dem Health Minister Norman Lamb said there was "something of a trade off between pay and numbers of staff" and it was important to be honest about that.

NHS pay as 'generous as possible'

Gustoimages/Science Photo Library

More from this afternoon's NHS debate at the British Library where Jeremy Hunt refused to rule out future real-terms pay cuts for NHS staff. But he argued that the chances of a better pay deal would be "much higher" under a Conservative government, due to the Tories' funding pledge.

Asked by the BBC's Sarah Montague if there would be no more real-terms pay cuts for NHS staff, Mr Hunt replied: "I can't make that commitment now because I don't know the full situation. My principle is that I want to be as generous as possible."

No such thing as a safe seat

UKIP's deputy chair, Suzanne Evans, is urging people to vote for the party they "believe in". She was appearing on the BBC News Channel answering questions from the audience. One viewer asked whether it was worth voting for UKIP in a safe Conservative seat. She replied: "I think if you vote for UKIP you might just get UKIP. I say there's no such thing as a safe seat."

I'm really not a fan of tactical voting."

'Brutal' politics

BBC

Paralympic champion and member of the House of Lords, Tanni Grey-Thompson, says there aren't enough disabled people in politics, reports BBC Ouch, the BBC's disability news service. Listen to Baroness Grey-Thompson's say how "brutal" politics can be on BBC Five Live.

Daily Politics

tweets:

iPlayer link to foreign affairs debate: @afneil @PHammondMP @patrickharvie W Dartmouth @timfarron @Douglas4Paisley http://bbc.in/1Eo48Rr

Call to take politics out of the NHS

Also appearing at this afternoon's debate on the NHS were the Liberal Democrats and UKIP. Lib Dem Care Minister Norman Lamb called on the main parties to establish a non-partisan commission on health and care "rather than using it as a political football". Meanwhile UKIP MEP Dr Julia Reid promised to keep the NHS free at the point of delivery but added:

We are committed to it being a national health service not an international health service."

'Clown seen running off with Liberal Democrat poster'

The Daily Telegraph

writes: "A man dressed as a clown was seen fleeing down a street with a Liberal Democrat election board under his arms.

The peculiar incident is said to have happened on Friday in Bisley, Gloucestershire."

Read more

Waving cheques at the NHS?

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt may have joked that a "toxic top-down reorganisation of London traffic" made him late to an NHS debate - referencing opponents' criticism of his government's NHS reforms. But humour was thin on the ground once the discussion - chaired by the BBC's Sarah Montague (pictured below) - got underway. Labour's health spokesman Andy Burnham said his party would repeal the Act.

BBC

As for the vexed question of NHS funding, Mr Burnham said: "The answer coming out of this election can't be who is just going to wave the biggest cheque at the NHS. We have to change the way we spend money."

Jeremy Hunt said the Conservative party backed the NHS's own plan and was "prepared to put that funding in on the back of a strong economy".

Vickiie Oliphant, Reporter for Harrow Times

tweets:

Good to see the Shadow Chancellor @edballsmp catching up on his favourite paper @Harrow_Times this afternoon

Get involved

Michael, Scotland:

Can it be arranged that the Tories, Labour and to a lesser extent the Liberal Democrats be banned from using the letters SNP for a single day. Since the 3 of them are finished in Scotland they'd be better served informing the electorate of England and Wales what they can do for them.

One minute round-up

BBC Political Correspondent Eleanor Garnier has given a one minute catch-up of the day's election campaigning. You can watch it here.

Half-time handover

That’s quite enough of that – from your early team of Alex Stevenson and Victoria King at least - but we'll be back bright and early at 6am tomorrow. On a day in which the SNP have, one way or the other, once again dominated the campaign and Labour pressed home its advantage on the NHS, here’s a few of the things we’ve learned:

• Even journalists’ aunties aren’t immune from the allures of politicians (9.10)
• Nick Clegg is not averse to fishing for votes (9.46)
• Nigel Farage says he’s prepared to give being James Bond “a go” – a prospect likely to leave voters shaken and/or stirred (11.24)
• Anyone urgently needing to zip around the UK’s 50 tightest marginals in the shortest time possible now has some assistance (12.46)
• Nick Clegg’s wife has a secret blogging website on which she lists some rather impressive recipes. John Major’s warning of a Labour-SNP “recipe for mayhem” is very much not among them (13.19)

Get involved

BBC Have Your Say

tweets:

#GE2015 Time for the political parties to face the music? Tell us which election song past and present gets your vote. #

Talking through the options

BBC News Channel

BBC

Akash Paun, of the Institute for Government, is on the News Channel to explain what happens in a hung parliament. “There’s no formal rules about who gets the first opportunity to try and put together a coalition or some other arrangement. Anyone can negotiate with anyone else,” he explains. David Cameron would remain in Downing Street, though, but only overseeing a caretaker government. He raises the possibility of a minority coalition of, say, Labour and the Liberal Democrats propped up by the SNP. “The key thing in constitutional terms,” he adds, is not which party has the most number of seats but who can command a majority.

Get involved

Election live reader:

If the Conservatives aren't taking on the SNP why has their support held steady or risen in Scottish polls? It is Labour's support that has collapsed.

Lessons from a tiny episode

Carole Walker

Political correspondent

David Cameron was heckled earlier. It was a tiny episode, but the reason it’s interesting is that so many of these events have been so tightly controlled and so restricted that there have been very few opportunities for members of the public to make their point to the prime minister. We’ve had only one open walkabout so far on the campaign trail - although we’re hearing there are going to be more.

Roy Mason 1924-2015

PA

Roy Mason, the Labour defence secretary under Harold Wilson, died yesterday. His obituary features in today’s Telegraph. Lord Mason, a Yorkshire MP and former miner, became Northern Ireland Secretary under James Callaghan and was, the paper notes, arguably “the British politician most determined to tackle the IRA” - after Margaret Thatcher, that is. After accepting a life peerage in 1987 he remained a familiar sight in Westminster, including in Annie’s Bar, where he pursued his passion for tasteful neckwear by holding an annual competition for the most revolting tie.

Get involved

Election live reader:

Major had his go years ago and failed Britain. He must go off now with his bowl of boiled peas and leave Cameron in his sinking ship of fools, whom have equally failed Britain.

UKIP diversity

BBC

Last week’s UKIP manifesto launch saw a journalist jeered by party activists for asking why the party’s manifesto was a bit lacking on ethnic diversity. Asked about it on Magic Radio today, Nigel Farage has insisted that the “premise was wrong” to that question because there was “one fully black person”, as well as “one of our leading spokesmen” who is “half-black”. Mr Farage added:

We're just about sick to death of the sneering media class trying to make UKIP out to be something completely other than it is. We're a non-racist, non-sectarian political party but we don't have all-female quotas, we don't have all-black quotas, we treat everybody as being equal."

Chris Ship, ITV News

tweets:

In an interview on Labour leader's bus, Ed Miliband tells @itvnews that David Cameron's behaviour over @theSNP has been 'reprehensible'

Mind the gap

AFP

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has been studiously going over all the parties' plans for tax and spending. Now it's turned its attention to the SNP. The SNP is aiming for "full fiscal autonomy for Scotland" - full control over taxation, employment, welfare, etc. But the independent IFS says the consequence would be a growing "fiscal gap" between Scotland and the rest of the UK.

According to new analysis that gap would grow from £7.6bn in 2015/16 to £9.7bn in 2019/20.

But the SNP has rejected the £7.6bn figure, saying Scotland could use additional economic powers to grow the economy,

The IFS has an answer to that, saying that to close the gap even over a longer period - up to 15 years - would require a "step change" in Scotland economic performance.

'Real men'

Newsnight

Here’s a bit more from Norman Tebbit, who’s told Newsnight that David Cameron’s failure to command a decent lead in the polls comes down to the fact that he’s just not as connected with the electorate as politicians were in the good old days.

Men like Churchill, Atlee, Bevin, were real men with real depths of experience. They had not gone from school to university to being a special adviser to working in an advertising agency - they had some experience of life - or Mrs Thatcher who was a scientist and worked as a scientist in industry. He doesn't have that hinterland of experience any more than Mr Miliband. These days there are too many people in parliament without adequate experience of life as it is lived by most people in the country.”

Despite all this, Lord Tebbit says the Tories can still win a majority if Mr Cameron focuses on security. “A hospital is a wonderful asset unless it's been bombed by an Islamic State lunatic in which case it's useless.”

'Toxic top down reorganisation'

Some close to the knuckle humour from Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt this afternoon. The Conservative - pictured here earlier this year - arrived late for a Health and Care Debate at the British Library in central London. Apologising, he joked: "I think we had a toxic top down reorganisation of London traffic that nobody voted for and nobody wanted."

AP

Boris is worried

PA

Boris Johnson is seriously concerned that some people might consider voting for a party other than the Conservatives. "I think people are slowly starting to focus on this election, on the choice that is before them and on the record of Conservative government in pulling the economy out of the mire, getting it back on the road,” he said while on the campaign trail in South Thanet. “There is a real risk other parties could mistakenly persuade people there was any other option."

Mr Johnson has raised eyebrows for campaigning outside the capital, but says he doesn't intend to make a habit of it. “Unless I specifically tell you otherwise, I am pounding the streets of London every day,” he added.

Tebbit wades in

Laura Kuenssberg

Newsnight Chief Correspondent

BBC

Norman Tebbit has told Newsnight that David Cameron's repeated warnings about the SNP are "puzzling" and "pointless", may push Scots to vote tactically for Labour, and are a distraction from the "prime target" which is getting 326 Conservative MPs elected. Lord Tebbit has been a long time critic of David Cameron. But he is sharply dismissive of the strategy, and David Cameron's leadership saying he does not have a "hinterland" of experience, unlike previous generations of politicians who were "real men".

I think it's a huge scare tactic against Labour… Having bungled the Scottish referendum it seems pointless to just irritate Scots by shouting at them from Westminster - the English are irritated into voting for UKIP, by being shouting at from Westminster - and the Scots are irritated similarly. The risk to the union comes from the SNP, not from anyone else."

Lord Tebbit

PM heckled over NHS

Carole Walker

Conservative campaign correspondent

On David Cameron's campaign visit to Calder Valley a heckler at the back of the crowd shouted: "It's the NHS that's dying... you're not mentioning that are you?" The man was taken away by security staff.

Final pitches

After a frantic hour of debate, the closing statements - 30 seconds for each spokesperson to sum up their party's pitch to voters on foreign affairs...

- Douglas Alexander, Labour Party, wraps up by offering a "clear choice" between the Conservatives and Labour. "It's time for hard-headed patriotism - it's time for Labour," he says

- Patrick Harvie, Green Party, says Britain should be proud of its contribution in the world but adds that "we need to go further" by tackling free trade and cutting back on arms trade

- Tim Farron, Liberal Democrats, says "a liberal world is a safer world". His approach is about "engagement, friendship and hard work". He suggests that "doing the right thing and acting in Britain's interests coincide"

- William Dartmouth, UKIP, offers a vision of a Britain which is outward-looking and says it's his opponents who are "pessimistic"

- Philip Hammond, Conservatives, says what's really needed is a "strong economy" - you can't have strong defences without it. "A vote for the Conservatives on 7 May is a vote for a strong, prosperous future for Britain," he wraps up.

Pic: Do kiss and tell Boris...

PA

Aid clashes

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

BBC

The next round of questions in the foreign affairs debate focuses on aid:

- The Conservatives' Philip Hammond says it's important that the budget is used as effectively as possible. It has to work "with the grain" of Britain's other objectives, he says

- Labour's Douglas Alexander says Labour's position is that "we should stick to the commitment" of 0.7% of gross national income being reserved for international development spending

- The Liberal Democrats' Tim Farron says ringfencing aid is "simply about doing the right thing" - even though the Foreign Office faces significant cuts. "We do not balance the books on the backs of the world's poor," he says

- UKIP's William Donaldson says it's "rubbish" that his party would do exactly that. He says the government doesn't have the cash to spend the money "wisely". The aid commitment was aimed at "Guardian voters", he says

- The Greens’ Patrick Harvie thinks that Britain should be spending even more on aid. “There is a really strong argument that the UK, a very wealthy country, should be contributing more to the common weal,” he says

Osborne: south coast 'won't get a look in'

BBC

George Osborne is issuing warnings about the impact of what he calls an "Ed Miliband Scottish nationalist government". He was on a campaign visit to Lewes in East Sussex - which included a trip to a brewery. He was asked why the Conservatives' message on the economy was not, apparently, translating into better polling results. Mr Osborne replied:

"It's a very close election. I think people know that and there is a very stark choice for people here, which is, do you want an Ed Miliband Scottish nationalist government. They've already cancelled the A27 around here.

"You know, the south coast won't get a look in under a Scottish national Ed Miliband Government."

The alternative, he said, was to "go for the strong local Conservative MP" and for David Cameron's government with the economic plan that is delivering jobs".

Carole Walker, BBC Conservative campaign correspondent

tweets:

David Cameron tells Calder Valley voters jobs and local infrastructure at risk if SNP wield power"

BBC

Trading blows

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

UKIP's William Dartmouth rejects the idea that an EU referendum could hasten a break-up of the UK. He says "we're either one nation or we're not" before defending free trade in North America, where there isn't also "free movement of people". The Greens' Patrick Harvie says he supports "fair trade" rather than "free trade". But Mr Dartmouth continues his offensive - or at least he would do if he wasn't simultaneously interrupted by, um, everyone. Douglas Alexander wonders why Britain would give up its position in the Europe. "Even Margaret Thatcher was determined that Britain would always have a seat at the table," he tells Philip Hammond. Mr Dartmouth, butting in, suggests Britain doesn't have much say in the Council of Europe: "We don't have the influence."

Clegg and Cable visit Mind class

BBC

Nick Clegg and Vince Cable are taking part in a drama therapy class in Richmond, south west London, run in association with the mental health charity Mind, for vulnerable adults, to boost their self esteem and confidence. At the moment the students, all mature students, are doing a movement class and Nick is calling out different speeds for them to respond to.

The theatre has benefited from some of the £80,000 funding from the Dept of Business. It opens in June.

Judgement reserved

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

Philip Hammond confirms "there will be a referendum" on the EU whether the Tories renegotiation is successful or not. "We will look at the package we will achieve... we rule nothing out."

Trade deal fears

Patrick Harvie denies that the Greens are split on Europe. "I don't think it's the most urgent priority facing us," he says of an EU referendum. He talks about the EU-US trade deal, which he says will hand power to corporations and make Europe "even less democratic, even less accountable".

'Esoteric'

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

BBC

The temperature hots up in the foreign affairs debate studio as Philip Hammond and Douglas Alexander clash over whether Mr Hammond has really got support for an in-out referendum in 2017 by his German counterpart. Thankfully Tim Farron is on hand to intervene. "A lot of this is very esoteric," he says. Mr Farron, who had rather a quiet start to this debate, gets a lot of screen time extolling the benefits of his party's policy.

Trust issues

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

Next the foreign affairs debate moves on to Europe. William Dartmouth says if it wasn't for UKIP then David Cameron would never have offered a referendum - not that he'll keep his promise, Mr Dartmouth says. Philip Hammond rejects UKIP's claim that it will be a "phony question" because the Electoral Commission will come up with the right wording. "We don't trust the Electoral Commission at all!" Mr Dartmouth interrupts. Mr Hammond seems very trusting of the likelihood that a decent package of reform can be achieved, even though German politicians and diplomats have voiced their opposition to major concessions. "It depends which Germans you talk to," Mr Hammond says.

EU referendum

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

Douglas Alexander says Labour won't "succumb" to the Conservatives' view that it's time for an in-out referendum by 2017. But why not have a referendum now and settle the issue? Mr Alexander says the Scottish referendum hasn't exactly resolved the issue. "The idea that UKIP is going to pack up its tent and go home after a referendum in 2017 is a little naive," he says. Tim Farron, who's also opposed to an EU referendum, says his party has been entirely consistent on a vote only in the event of treaty change. "Why are you guys terrified of the electorate?" Philip Hammond interjects. "With every reason," UKIP's William Dartmouth says. "Look at the European elections!"

Cameron: Right to extend rescue scheme

AFP

David Cameron says Britain will "make a contribution" to efforts to step up search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. The EU withdrew support from Italy's rescue operation, called Mare Nostrum. It was replaced with the smaller Operation Triton.

Speaking to the BBC's John Pienaar, Mr Cameron said it was "right" to extend the rescue scheme, saying: "We've got one of the strongest and best-organised aid budgets anywhere in Europe and we can help stabilise some of these countries."

Mr Cameron will be attending an emergency meeting of European leaders on Thursday.

Asked if he accepted that stopping Mare Nostrum was a source of "shame", Mr Cameron replied: "I don't think that's a fair point because everyone wants to stop the loss of life.

"The decision that was taken in Europe to change the approach was because at that time it seemed that more lives were being lost because of what the Italian navy was doing.

"More people were taking to the sea, more people were dying."

David Cameron

Second-class Britain?

UKIP's William Dartmouth says there have been "so many ill-thought out interventions... that the concept of intervention in this country has been discredited", he says. He suggests the coalition has "already settled on second-class status" by "cutting, cutting, cutting defence". Tim Farron says "we can be very powerful in the world... just in a different way". The Greens' Patrick Harvie says a second-class Britain poses an "opportunity" rather than a "threat".

Syria vote legacy

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

Reuters

The debate on foreign affairs moves on to Syria - the picture above is a bomb-damaged suburb of Damascus - and Labour's shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander is pressed on his party's role in defeating the government over military intervention in August 2013. "There was not the basic lessons learned from Iraq," Mr Alexander says. Philip Hammond, interrupting him, says that vote did "extreme damage". Mr Alexander, pressing on, distinguishes between the 2013 vote and the situation against the Islamic State now. "It's not pure pragmatism, there's a question as to what can actually be achieved," he says. Mr Hammond then attacks Labour for damaging Britain, but Mr Alexander won't play that game - he says the falling-out was the government's fault. Lib Dem Tim Farron intervenes - and says the Iraq War legacy shows that the British public is reluctant to take action "even when intervention is justified".

Get involved - #dailypolitics

@TotemTraining tweets:

Where are the women? #boysclub #dailypolitics

@nicholaswhibley tweets:

These Daily Politics debates have been marvellous, it's pretty much let's all laugh at UKIP and make the Tory's squirm for an hour 😂

@rbruce_t tweets:

More daily politics on TV it's driving me mad can't Wait for may 7th so wee can get back to normal

'Humanitarian crisis'

BBC

Philip Hammond agrees this is a "complex problem" after the Greens' Patrick Harvie again underlines the importance of taking a humanitarian approach to the problem. "Nobody wants to see people drowning in the Mediterranean," Mr Hammond says. Douglas Alexander then seizes on Mr Hammond's comment that Italy should take refugees. The foreign secretary ends up saying he supports a "strengthened" operation on the seas - but not a return to the Italian-run Mare Nostrum operation.

Open door, closed door

The Greens' Patrick Harvie says he is "absolutely" supportive of letting one million more migrants into Europe "as opposed to seeing them die". Labour's Douglas Alexander says everyone on the panel has acknowledged it's a "highly complex" issue - but says that doesn't mean Europe should adopt an "open-door" policy. He's then pressed on whether Britain should take more asylum-seekers - and Mr Alexander says under the terms of the Dublin Treaty it would have to be Italy that would have to receive them all.

A pint with the chancellor

We're tickled by these images of George Osborne getting stuck in at a brewery in Lewes, East Sussex, so we thought you might enjoy them all.

PA

PA

PA

'Terrible mistake'

William Dartmouth says UKIP opposed the intervention in Libya at the time in 2011. "It was a terrible mistake," he says. Philip Hammond challenges him on whether there would be a civil war in Libya today if there hadn't been an invasion. Mr Darmouth says: "It's high time you were held to account." The Greens' Patrick Harvie is next, recalling "hugs in the desert" with Gadaffi. "There is a lack of consistency," he says.

Migrant 'compassion'

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

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Asked about whether the migrants from Libya are really coming over solely because of people-trafficking, Philip Hammond says action is needed against the "criminal gangs" behind the problem. Tim Farron agrees with Douglas Alexander in that he backed the Libya intervention, but not what followed. He highlights the Lib Dems' proposal for a "single security budget" and talks of the need to be "compassionate". What's needed is a "safe and legal point of crossing," he says.

Pic: Boris eats world's smallest ice cream in South Thanet

PA

They even found him some Tory blue ice cream.

Libya unrest

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

BBC

That's the opening statements over, and now we turn to the first big question - on the situation in the Mediterranean, and what the EU is going to do to deal with the problem of migrants. Philip Hammond says he's optimistic that the situation in Libya could result in a "break in the civil war". Douglas Alexander says it wasn't a mistake to go to war against Muammar Gaddafi, but there was a "basic failure of post-conflict planning".

Labour's Alexander

The final opening statement is from Labour's shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander. He says the election is a choice between his party and the Conservatives, many of whom want to leave the European Union. "Labour believes the right course is reform from within Europe and not exit from Europe," Mr Alexander says. Will he go and work for David Miliband if he loses his seat in Scotland, Andrew Neil asks? "Victory is within our grasp," he replies with a smile.

Greens' Harvie

BBC

Next up is the Greens' Patrick Harvie, who says promises of an ethical foreign policy now sounds like a "sick joke" after the invasions of Iraq and elsewhere. He says "too often" Britain is making things "worse". Asked whether he thinks Ed Miliband should work with the SNP, he says: "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

Farron opening speech

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

Lib Dem Tim Farron highlights the coalition's commitment to backing 0.7% of spending on aid and prioritises preventing conflict using trade, aid and diplomacy. He underlines his party's commitment to the European Union, too.

UKIP's Dartmouth

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

BBC

Next is the opening statement from UKIP's William Dartmouth, who warns that being in the EU "diminishes Britain's role in foreign affairs". He defends Nigel Farage's comments that Vladimir Putin is good at standing up for Russia's interests, simply saying Britain could do better.

Election 2015: "Misstakes and mispellings"

Goose / Ste Curran

Getting a campaign poster right can be a tricky thing. The tone, the style, the imagery... the spelling...

It seems up and down the country voters are being bombarded with a bewildering array of misspelt, error ridden and entirely incorrect campaign posters, leaflets and literature in the somewhat dubious hope of winning their vote.

The Lib Dems have offered the electorate the below examples of their attention to detail. The latter, where they tried to make Labour look bad for breaking the "ecconomy" fails the spell check...

Read more

Young for his years

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

Philip Hammond can't help but smile as he's told he's often confused with Jeremy Hunt. That's a plus, he says, because the health secretary is "15 years younger than me".

Hammond opening speech

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is now setting out the Conservatives' case on foreign affairs. He begins by running through the government's achievements - including replacing Labour's "sofa government" with a "proper National Security Council". He finishes with the promise of an in-out referendum on Europe.

Foreign affairs debate

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

BBC

Now under way on BBC2 is a 60-minute live foreign affairs debate between Conservative Philip Hammond, Labour's Douglas Alexander, Lib Dem Tim Farron, UKIP's William Dartmouth and the Green's Patrick Harvie.

Trident 'symbolism'

AFP/Getty Images

The question mark over the renewal of Britain’s nuclear deterrent has perhaps occupied a more prominent role in the campaign so far than some might have expected. But the debate has been limited to “simplistic symbolism”, Paul Ingram of the British American Security Information Council think-tank suggests in an article for Politics.co.uk. He’s interested by the influence that Labour anti-nuclear MPs could have on Ed Miliband’s party - but not worried by the suggestion they could have a decisive say.

“The dangers of an evolution in the party's policy based upon review and further delay in the project may not be as potent as often assumed,” Dr Ingram writes. “Indeed, if such an adaptation becomes seen as a yardstick for reconnecting with the priorities of the country it could be seen as an essential symbol of the party's escape from the 1990s battle between old and new Labour that led to the Iraq disaster.”

Yorkshire First can 'create stronger UK'

Andrew Neil

Daily and Sunday Politics

BBC

The leader of Yorkshire First said the UK was currently "not working effectively for all parts and all regions" and said his party would "create a stronger United Kingdom". Richard Carter told Jo Coburn on the Daily Politics the party was campaigning for a directly-elected parliament for Yorkshire, with similar powers to those of Scottish Parliament. It has 14 candidates standing in this general election. and is not impressed with government plans for a "northern powerhouse". Watch the interview

Some useful advice

The World at One

BBC Radio 4

Here’s Conservative veteran Ken Clarke on The World At One, who says you - you being the politicians - have to “hedge your bets” when it comes to the possibility of ruling out working with parties like UKIP. The trick is to win more votes - simple when you put it like that, really.

Our best message is our record - we’ve just got to engage the still undecided and rather detached members of the public with something that just gets across to them."

Ken Clarke

Motorway charges

PA

George Osborne would have forced motorists to pay up to £120 a year for a "network pass" of key motorways and A roads, it’s been claimed. Lib Dem ex-Transport Minister Norman Baker has told BBC North that the chancellor drew up proposals for the £10-a-month charge which would have become reality if it hadn’t been for Liberal Democrat opposition.

"This scheme is one which would have taxed people in local areas, particularly in areas like those along the A1,” Mr Baker said. “It seemed to me to be very unfair and should be stopped, so we did." Cameras with automatic numberplate recognition would have been set up on the roads to catch drivers who didn't have passes, he claims.

Pic: Another for the hi-vis collection - PM in Horsforth

Getty

Defence spending

The World at One

BBC Radio 4

PA

UKIP’s economics spokesman Patrick O’Flynn is now on The World At One, where he’s busy rejecting the idea that a Britain that’s left the European Union would be diminished on the world stage. The key organisation for the UK is Nato, he says. “That’s what’s kept the peace in Europe since the middle of the 20th Century - that’s the organisation that has the ‘all for one and one for all’ rule.” Given the Islamic State threat, Vladimir Putin “sniffing around for weakness” and threats to the Falklands and Gibraltar, Mr O’Flynn says spending 2% on defence is essential.

So why won’t the Tories commit to continuing to spend 2% of gross national income on defence? Philip Hammond tells the same programme moments later that decision can only be taken at the next spending review, once the threats to Britain's security have been sized up.

Ian Dunt, Editor of Politics.co.uk

tweets:

I am actually quite surprised at the lengths the Tories are going to. Never thought I'd see them risk the Union to cling onto power.

Major speech: Sturgeon responds

Reuters

Nicola Sturgeon, attending the Scottish TUC this morning in Ayr, has responded to Sir John Major.

It is entirely up to Scotland to decide how to make its voice heard and Scotland will do that. This election is a great opportunity for Scotland to make its voice heard and also for that voice to be won for more progressive politics right across the UK and an end to austerity and protection for our public services. I’m not surprised that those kind of messages don’t chime well with a former Tory prime minister, but I suspect they chime quite strongly the length and breadth of Scotland.”

Ms Sturgeon says the Conservatives last year argued that Scotland should “lead” rather than “leave” the UK –- and that it’s therefore a bit rich that now their views only count if they vote the way they want.

Building a fence

The World at One

BBC Radio 4

The concern with Mare Nostrum, Philip Hammond says, is that there was “anecdotal” evidence that migrants could get on an “unseaworthy” vessel which would then be quickly rescued. “We do not want to create a situation where people feel they are willing to… take risks that are simply not sensible,” he tells The World At One. Tomorrow’s European Council will discuss whether the EU should do more to support the Italians, Maltese and Greeks in tackling the problem. “But we must not take our eyes off the principal challenge," he continues. If people are falling off a cliff you don’t put all your resources into picking them up at the bottom, he says - you “build a fence” at the top to stop them falling off.

Boris vs Nigel

PA

Boris Johnson has visited South Thanet - where a certain Nigel Farage is hoping to get elected as MP on 7 May. But the London Mayor hasn’t had the friendliest of welcomes, Kent Online reports. He was greeted by both political enemies and friends at Ramsgate station, one of whom told him to “go back to London” - that would be a political enemy, then. Mr Johnson then moved on to conduct a tour of the harbour. Which is nice.

Hammond on Triton

The World at One

BBC Radio 4

Pa

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says the way to make an “immediate impact” on the situation in the Mediterranean is to expand the Triton mission - a scaled-down version of the Mare Nostrum search and rescue operation that came to an end last year. Mr Hammond tells The World At One that Triton will offer search and rescue. Its vessels are primarily “defensive” but do assist in search and rescue operations. He concedes the vessels involved are “relatively small” and argues there are “broader factors at work” - including the “increasing sophistication” of traffickers. David Cameron will be going to Brussels tomorrow to try and ensure the problem is tackled “upstream”, Mr Hammond says.

Cook with Miriam

PA

Miriam Gonzalez-Durantez, aka Mrs Nick Clegg, is currently doing a live webchat with Mumsnet. Politics aside, she's just revealed she's been writing a cooking blog with her children for the last three years. She tells Mumsnet members: "When my husband's advisers learn this they are going to freak out! Just click on www.mumandsons.com and you can get some of the recipes we do..."

She admits she's probably "going to be told off for sharing this with you", but also tells the website about the Inspiring Women Campaign that she's part of.

Coalition: The sequel

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

BBC

Spare a thought for the mental wellbeing of Lib Dem Don Foster, who says he worries enormously about the possibility of a supply and confidence arrangement instead of a formal coalition after the 2015 election. In 2010, he tells the Daily Politics, the Liberal Democrats would “never have been forgiven” for allowing the Conservatives to push through a “Tory Queen’s Speech and a Tory Budget”. Not that a coalition is guaranteed next time around, even if the Lib Dems are again in a position to act as kingmakers. “I wouldn’t take it for granted, but there’s going to be negotiations,” Mr Foster says.

Get involved

Election live reader:

With the Tories having effectively written off Scotland, has the time come for them to become the Party of England?

Ready to talk

Daily Politics

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And now here’s Sinn Fein’s education spokesman Daithi McKay, who says his party is prepared to talk. “Anything we’ve ever achieved as a party… has been achieved through negotiations, so what we’ve set out is the fact that once the British government is returned we will be looking to make negotiations to address the impact of the austerity policies of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government,” he says. He makes clear that Sinn Fein MPs will continue to not take their seats, though.

Get involved

John, Scotland:

The Conservative Party are trying to win the election through fear.The majority of Scottish people don't want to leave the union.They are shameless.

The numbers game (part 2)

Daily Politics

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BBC

The DUP, which says it expects to have up to 10 MPs in Westminster after the election, is launching its manifesto today and deputy leader Nigel Dodds is now on Daily Politics. He won’t be drawn on whether his party is more likely to work with Labour or the Conservatives; or whether he’ll back an EU referendum. “A lot will depend in terms of who we talk to first, in terms of who is the biggest party in Westminster,” Mr Dodds says. It all comes down to the “arithmetic”, he says. Mr Dodds raises the possibility that his party could decide not to back anyone at all. “The DUP has not already sold its votes,” he declares.

The numbers game

The Guardian

Senior politicians aren't staying very still for very long in this campaign - especially as the 50 tightest marginal seats are scattered across the length and breadth of the UK. Visiting all of them would be quite a challenge - but what's the shortest route of doing so? This question has been tackled by the Guardian's Alex Bellos, who's found that it would take a rather clever computer about a century to work out the answer. Still, he's had a crack at it... starting at the Tate Modern, heading up the east of Britain and down the west coast to Cornwall, and then back to Brighton "in time for dinner"... job done!

Get involved

Election live reader:

I live in Wales and Labour have been in power for 15 years. We now have the worst performing NHS and worst performing education system in the whole of the UK. If Labour cannot provide first class services for 3 million people after 15 years, then there is no way they will do this for 50m+ English people

Show us the money

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

BBC

Shadow health minister Jamie Reed has been answering some rather persistent questions from Andrew Neil on the Daily Politics. The question is about where Labour’s money for the NHS is actually going to come from: is the £2.5bn the party has already identified a down-payment to the total £8bn of extra cash needed, or is it going to fund a range of new policies Labour is keen on? “These are things the NHS needs to do in addition to what it’s already doing,” Mr Reed says. “These investments are going to make the NHS more efficient.”

Send for the Navy

Reuters

Nigel Farage has been speaking about what UKIP would do to help stricken people in the Mediterranean. “I’m quite happy for us to provide humanitarian assistance via the Royal Navy,” he’s said on the campaign trail in Canterbury. And he would be happy to redirect some of the EU and foreign aid budgets to help people “in those beleaguered countries” because “they are good, Christian things to do”. That doesn’t mean that the UK should assume responsibility for other countries’ problems, though. “Yes, we will take some refugees but we cannot open up our door to potentially unlimited numbers of people,” he says. “That actually in Britain would command no public support."

Get involved - Ed Miliband speech

Mike:

Ed Miliband’s plans would lead to 216,000 additional health workers – doctors, nurses etc. At a very conservative average of £25,000 p.a. this equates to £5.4 billion. Is this funded by a Mansion Tax (after Scotland and Wales have had their fair share)?

'Making the difference'

BBC

Politics is something which is too important to be left to politicians. Seriously. You’ve got to hold me to account for the policies I make, but you can also make the difference in this election. This election could be decided by a few hundred votes in a few dozen constituencies… think about the way change has happened throughout our history. The NHS didn’t happen because nice politicians came along… it happened because people demanded it happened, and the politicians responded.

Ed Miliband, Labour leader

Over-stating influence?

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

Treasury minister David Gauke refers to former Conservative Scottish Secretary Lord Forsyth's remark that his party was playing a "short-term and dangerous" game by building up the SNP. He says there has been a "huge over-statement" of the influence Conservatives had over convincing life-long Labour supporters to back the SNP.

'A straight choice'

BBC

In the end this election is going to come down to quite a straight choice… by-elections, European elections, council elections, they are a chance for people to make a protest. I don’t blame people for sending a message, sometimes politicians need a bit of a message. But this election is not about sending a message, it’s not about making a point, it’s about choosing a government.

David Cameron, Conservative leader

Get involved

Bill Barker:

What right does Nicola Sturgeon have to talk about any votes in the Westminster House when she is not even going to be there? If she really believes in parliamentary democracy she should at least put herself up for election in a parliamentary seat. We are governed by MPs in Westminster not somewhere in Scotland. What will the SNP and the other fringe parties put in Tridents place, maybe ask Mr Putin to look after us?

Get involved

C. Collins, Norfolk:

Is it not predictable that as soon as they smell a quick buck all the politicians that got us into this mess have crawled out of their slime to tell us they know best.

SNP 'doing well in polls'

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

Treasury minister David Gauke says there's "a risk of a Labour minority government with a big SNP influence". He adds: "The reason why the SNP are doing well in the polls is not because the Conservatives are talking about it, it's because of the collapse of the Labour vote."

Miliband on Major

BBC

Does Sir John Major have a point? “No,” Mr Miliband says shortly. His audience laugh and applaud at that as he highlights Lord Forsyth’s comments today. “David Cameron is setting one part of the UK against another. He’s seeking to divide our country and I think that is dangerous. He’s talking up the SNP’s chances, not taking them on, and I think that is dangerous…. I want the Scottish National Party to fail, he wants them to succeed, and that is a big difference between us.” He says there are “right-thinking Conservatives up and down the country who feel deeply queasy”.

Angus B MacNeil, SNP

tweets:

Given what daft newpapers are writing - this lunchtime I am feeling DANGEROUS and looking for..(drum roll).. #Ideas2HoldWestmin2Ransom :)))

Pete Kennedy, Green candidate

tweets:

Paddy Ashdown warns that the right wingers in the Tory Party would cause untold damage to Britain with an unholy alliance with UKIP #GE2015

Reality check?

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

Speaking on BBC2's Daily Politics, following Sir John's speech, Treasury minister David Gauke says: "The fact is at the next general election as the polls currently stand, the SNP will hold the balance of power...The best way of stopping that is by having a Conservative majority."

Defending the anti-SNP strategy

“I’m the prime minister. I’m responsible for everything. But I’m not responsible for the fact the Labour party has failed to get its message across in Scotland,” David Cameron says at his PM Direct event in Leeds. This “wipeout”, he says, means Labour can’t win an election on their own – a point made by Sadiq Khan in an interview earlier. They need the SNP to help. But the problem is the nationalists “aren’t any old party” – they want to “break up the country”. He says that over the course of five years of the SNP propping up Ed Miliband, Nicola Sturgeon will do her best to make people feel like the UK government doesn’t work.

There is a solution to all this. I’m not raising a problem without an answer. I’ve got the answer. The answer is to… vote for Conservative candidates, deliver that Conservative majority… and at the same time keep our United Kingdom strong and united and together.

David Cameron

Would you quit?

BBC

The FT’s Beth Rigby asks David Cameron whether he would resign if he doesn’t win an overall majority in the general election. He initially dodges the question, saying he wants to win “23 seats” because he wants an overall majority, but then says: “If I fall short, too right I will be deeply disappointed, but I’m not going to fall short… people are saying yes, it’s about the economy, it’s about security.”

NHS pay

BBC

“If we were in government you honour pay review bodies,” Ed Miliband promises in Manchester. He says the NHS’ reliance on agency staff is a “false economy” because of their “spiralling” costs. There’s no applause for his comments, but that doesn’t mean this audience doesn’t like it - they’re saving their applause for the questioners and their contributions to the health service.

One questioner cites a colleague who has found herself “stuck at home watching ridiculous amounts of Jeremy Kyle” while signed off work. Mr Miliband can’t resist a dig at the daytime TV presenter, replying: “Not good for anyone, I wouldn’t have thought.

Major's 'sound governance' wish

In his closing words, Sir John says: "I don't rule out a chance of some form of coalition - but my wish, my preference, is for a Conservative majority. But if that doesn't happen, the sound governance of the United Kingdom is the most single important issue to be determined - and I would look at the circumstances that way."

Two lunchtime helpings

Daily Politics

Live on BBC Two

BBC

Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn will look at health policies on Tuesday's Daily Politics from noon, and speak to Sinn Fein and the DUP about their campaign launches. Martin Boon, from ICM, will examine which policy announcements are proving popular with the voters. Yorkshire First leader Richard Carter will discuss his party’s prospects, and they’ll look at how a confidence and supply arrangement might work in the event of a hung Parliament. Andrew returns at 14:00 BST with a 60-minute live foreign affairs debate between Conservative Philip Hammond, Labour's Douglas Alexander, Lib Dem Tim Farron, UKIP's William Dartmouth and the Green's Patrick Harvie. 

James Forsyth, The Spectator

tweets:

Cameron: I'm responsible for a lot of things but am not responsible for Labour's failure in Scotland

Matt Chorley, Political Editor, MailOnline

tweets:

Major on Tory coalition with Ukip: "I don't think you can have a coalition with a party that isn't likely to get into parliament"

Cameron on housing

BBC

It’s shirtsleeves only for David Cameron, who’s in down-to-business mode as he conducts his latest PM Direct event in Yorkshire. “Because of the damage done in the financial crash, the banks were no longer lending 90, 95% loan-to-value mortgages. Because the banks weren't lending, the buyers wouldn't buy, so the builders wouldn't build, and the market was stuck.” This was “very unfair”, he says. So the government came up with help-to-buy - and the Conservatives are now promising "starter homes".

“We build them at 80% of the normal market value and crucially we say to people they… are reserved for people who are under the age of 40 who want to get on the housing ladder,” he says.

Pic: Scottish Lib Dems launch manifesto

Getty

'I'm not anti SNP'

Sir John says he's "not anti-Scottish" or anti the SNP, but he warns that the nationalists are trying to change the policies of a country without offering a single candidate. "That cannot be right."

Carole Walker, BBC Conservative campaign correspondent

tweets:

David Cameron says SNP is rampant in Scotland"

BBC

Vicki Young, BBC Political Correspondent

tweets:

Major lays into Sturgeon for saying she'd influence UK policies. A few months ago Tories were begging Scotland to stay in the Union. #GE2015

PoliticsHome

tweets:

Sir John Major says he had an "absolute duty" to speak up about the risks of a Labour govt reliant on SNP. #GE2015

Cameron fan

Sir John says he is "a fully paid up supporter of David Cameron as prime minister". He says Mr Cameron had to point out "what is economically necessary" for the prosperity of the UK.

Fixing the NHS

BBC

Now on to the serious answers as Ed Miliband rattles through questions in Manchester:

• Mental health is the “Cinderella service” of the NHS, Ed Miliband says. There’s a lot of overlap with the Liberal Democrats’ prioritisation of the issue as he talks about how Labour will increase spending.
• On GPs, the Labour leader says it’s essential to ensure there are enough of them. Otherwise pressure just builds up elsewhere in the system. “Extra capacity to me seems to be the best answer.”
• On nurses leaving the profession, Mr Miliband says his sense of the problem is that “it’s a morale issue”. He’s promising 20,000 more nurses. “I don’t say it resolves every pressure but I say it starts to resolve some of the pressure,” he adds.
• On maternity ward issues, Mr Miliband says Labour is promising 3,000 more midwives. “We want every mother to have one-to-one midwife care,” he says.
• On reversing ‘privatisation’ of the NHS, he says his view is that the “NHS is best” - and should be the preferred provider, over private sector care, wherever possible.

'40 or more'

Answering questions following his speech, Sir John Major predicts that the SNP could get 40 or more seats on 7 May.

Wrong cheerleader?

Lord Ashdown says it was "rather foolish" of the Conservatives to put forward Sir John Major to speak up for the party today because his premiership was "weakened by the right-wing".

Get involved - John Major speech

Election live reader:

John Major still holds the record for number of votes cast for a PM 14 million - a very memorable election victory 1992 - when we rejected left wingers just like we need to now

Above his head

BBC

Ed Miliband, ever the democrat when it comes to giving all parts of his audience a chance of asking questions, is getting a lot of laughter. He grins as he takes queries from balconies from high above him. And he encourages cheers from this very high-spirited crowd. “Let’s hear it for the speech and language therapists!” Who says politics isn’t all rock and roll?

Ashdown 'right-wing' prediction

BBC

Former Lib Dem leader Lord Paddy Ashdown tells the BBC the Conservatives have 60 right-wingers in their party - "bastards", he calls them repeatedly - who would do a deal with UKIP and the Ulster Unionists "which would produce chaos and weak government". He says the only way to keep the Tories on course is another coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

'Downpayment': Miliband

Onto questions now. Mr Miliband stresses his £2.5bn funding for the NHS in England is a "downpayment", not an IOU, as his opponents are committing themselves to. Asked about childcare provision for student nurse mothers and fathers, he says it will have to be looked into.

Get involved - John Major speech

Election live reader:

J major speech has a number of factual and historical inaccuracies. A sad demonstration of the panic within the tory camp.

'Rescue plan'

So today I can announce in our first 100 days, our first Budget, our first year in office, we'll begin to bring in funds from the mansion tax and tobacco levy. And we will use that money to support the NHS with our immediate rescue plan. An emergency round of nurse recruitment. Funding for 1,000 extra training places this year. Getting extra resources into the NHS right from the very start. First things first: We'll save the NHS."

Ed MilibandLabour leader

Len Tingle, BBC's Political Editor for Yorkshire and the North Midlands

tweets:

David Cameron in a West #Yorkshire Tory held marginal-speaking to at a health company HQ #GE2015 @BBCLookNorth later

BBC

Stark choice

BBC

Ending his speech, Sir John said: "Sixteen days from now, this country will decide in whose hands they will intrust their future... However disaffected, disengaged, downright fed up many may be with politics, let me repeat the very simple choice: Do you vote for the party that presided over economic chaos, or the party that has led us out of it?"

Emily Ashton, Buzzfeed senior political correspondent

tweets:

Key moment of Major speech: "My family had nothing. So why would I give my lifetime's work to the party that doesn't care?"

Get involved

Election live reader:

Absolute farce the SNP. They are talked about as if they represent Scotland. Actually, the majority of Scots do not vote for them in elections or referendums so they are just as bad for most of us than they are for rest of country.

Promises, promises

The unhappy truth for the Scots is the SNP are promising what they cannot deliver - they are fooling themselves and misleading their people."

Sir John Major

More NHS jobs

Ed Miliband says he wants to get trained nurses onto wards straight away, and help those out of a job to return to practice. Speaking directly to the student nurses in the audience, he says by putting more resources in, there will be more jobs for them to go to.

Debt warning

We're having some technical trouble with our live feed to Sir John Major's speech, but we're soldiering on. The former PM says: "In any negotiations on the fiscal framework, the SNP expects the rest of the UK to pay a large portion of the debt."

The name's Farage...

PA

Nigel Farage has insisted the next James Bond must be "male and a rogue".

Asked if he'd fancy the gig, he replied: "I'm not handsome enough, but I'll give it a go."

'PM mortal danger to the NHS'

BBC

David Cameron is a "mortal danger" to the NHS, says Mr Miliband. "We have a fortnight to rescue our NHS." He explains his rescue plan will pay for 200,000 more nurses, 3,000 midwives, 8,000 GPs and 5,000 care workers.

Labour 'ruins' the economy

Every single Labour government we've ever had from Ramsay MacDonald to Gordon Brown has ruined the economy."

Sir John Major

Conservatives 'can win'

BBC

Sir John says he believes a Conservative majority is possible. "Only a few thousand votes would secure a Conservative majority and we need one because some momentous issues lie ahead," he argues.

Economic assessment

A Conservative-led coalition has brought Britain "back from the brink", says Sir John. "The future is looking brighter."

Get involved

@ItsOneOfThose tweets:

John Major and William Hague both wheeled out on the same day, seen it all now.

'Envy of the world'

BBC

Ed Miliband appears at the podium to loud cheers and starts by hailing the NHS the "proudest achievement of our country and the envy of the world" but warns it's under threat.

Labour concession

Sir John says "to their credit" Labour fought for the union ahead of last year's vote on the Scottish referendum.

Back of the queue

Speaking with the backdrop "A Brighter More Secure Future", Sir John says if Scotland did achieve separation, it would risk being at the back of the queue for rejoining the European Union. "The SNP are more focused on gaining political power than on the long term well being of their country," he says. His tone is certainly grave.

SNP would 'prize apart' the UK

BBC

Sir John warns that the SNP would "manufacture grievance" between Scotland and England. "That nightmare of a broken United Kingdom has not gone away...The SNP is determined to prize apart the United Kingdom."

Get involved - John Major speech

Election live reader:

This is a speech full of gutter politics, of fear and folk stories designed to mislead the electorate. Unworthy of Major, but Cameron is clearly desperate.

Miliband speech

Danny, an A&E nurse, is Ed Miliband's warm-up act. He says nurses need more time to care.

The amount of work we are doing is unbelievable.

He says quite often he feels like crying when he gets home at night because of the amount of pressure on him.

Major warns of 'costly bribe'

Sir John says a Labour-SNP coalition was "a recipe for mayhem". He says while SNP support might put Ed Miliband in Number 10, the payback for Labour would be "very costly indeed". For every "bribe" the SNP would make, the more popular they would come, he adds.

Priti Patel, Conservative candidate

tweets:

Ed Miliband’s only route to No.10 is propped up by the SNP, but we would all pay- with higher taxes, fewer jobs & more & more debt

Get involved

Election live reader:

At the time of the Scottish referendum on independence, Cameron and his fellow Tories promised the Scottish People a voice at Westminster if they chose to stay within the UK. Now it seems the last thing they want is the SNP, representing a large tranche of Scottish opinion, to be the spokesmen for Scotland. So much for their empty promise.

Pic: Student nurse warms up the crowd for Ed Miliband

BBC

Miliband speech

Ed Miliband is a couple of minutes late so, to tide you over, we've already taken a look at what might be coming up in his speech.

'Ransom' politics

Sir John warns that a Labour-SNP coalition risks holding Labour to ransom on a vote-by-vote basis. 

Labour would be in hoc to a party that slowly but surely would push them ever further to the left. We would all pay for the SNP's ransom in our daily lives."

John Major trending on Twitter

@thestuntmonkey tweets:

John Major is not going to win the Tories any votes. #badmovedave

@DomDom1919 tweets:

For @Conservatives to be sending out John Major (one of the most forgettable Prime Minsters ever) to defend them shows they are panicking.

@LeftOverForEver tweets:

According to the Twitter Left John Major is irrelevant. Yea right, that is why he is trending third,after the Queen & Sex.Beat that Brown!

Major warning

BBC

Now speaking in Solihull, former Conservative Prime Minister Sir John Major says voters face "a very simple choice" on 7 May - either they vote Labour, "the party that presided over economic chaos", or they vote Conservative.

Danny Savage, BBC UKIP campaign correspondent

tweets:

Quite a few people wanting to engage with @Nigel_Farage in Canterbury. "Good luck Nigel", says a kipper.

BBC

Christopher Hope, Assistant Editor & Chief Political Correspondent, The Daily Telegraph

tweets:

A full house for Sir John Major's speech in the West Midlands. Lots will remember him as PM as if it were yesterday.

Get involved

Frank, Clerkenwell:

It's amazing that the austerity myth still hasn't been exposed for the myth it is... the country is currently borrowing £90Bn extra a year and our debt pile has doubled to £1.5Tn in the last 5 years. The mainstream parties are once again promising the earth to get elected; all relying on some unlikely growth miracle to pay for their largesse.

Miliband at university

Ed Miliband will shortly be taking to the lectern to talk to student nurses at Manchester Metropolitan University. Expect announcements on 1,000 more training places for nurses and attacks on the Conservatives' health record.

Big speeches

BBC

We're expecting Sir John Major and Ed Miliband to start speaking shortly - not together, of course. We'll bring you commentary of both speeches. Above, the lectern awaits the former in Warwickshire.

Clegg: Tories 'are not going to win'

Getty

Away from discussions about his sartorial decisions, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg says Lord Forsyth's remarks about the dangers of building up the SNP to undermine support for Labour shows the Conservatives are "panicking".

Speaking in St Ives, Cornwall, he said: "It is now dawning on the Conservatives, something I could have told them ages ago, that they are not going to win this election. Everybody knows they are not going to win the election, in fact everybody knows that no one is going to win the election outright, and they are starting to panic. They are thrashing around, using ever more intemperate language."

Get involved

Election live reader:

If the conservatives win the election, the SNP will go for another referendum on independence! And the Yes vote will win this time.

Get involved

Terry C, Erith:

Personally, the more likely it seems that the SNP will have a strong influence over any Labour Government, the more likely I am to vote Labour!

'Gangsta Clegg'

Other

An innocent clothing choice has led some to accuse Nick Clegg of following "gangsta" fashion, according to BBC Trending. The Lib Dem leader chose a North Face jacket for his Twitter profile picture - and apparently there's a stereotype that comes from northern English cities that people who wear hard-wearing outdoors coats have "gangsta" ties or other nefarious connections. The coat prompted one Twitter user, called Ellie, to comment: "Clegg you absolute roadman". She then added, somewhat more cryptically: "Nick Clegg, more like Yung Clegg, am i rite?"

A "roadman" in slang describes someone who thoroughly knows his local area, and is good to tap up for all the latest information about where the best parties are. "Yung" can mean that someone is very cool,

The Lib Dems seem to have embraced the humour in this strange scenario, commenting:

Nick's a big fan of his North Face jacket. Perhaps now isn't the time to tell you he's also got two mobile phones.

Lib Dem spokesman

Get involved - Victoria Derbyshire

Victoria Derbyshire

John, Stirling:

Gd mng Victoria, excellent programme. Cameron is damaging the union debate by demonizing the SNP and he is driving people to the SNP. Isn't democracy about freedom of the people to select.

Get involved - Victoria Derbyshire

Victoria Derbyshire

Roger Green:

Victoria, what emerges from this morning is divisiveness propogated by politicians, which feeds fear and bias rather than our common ground, co-operation and consequences.

'Nationalist trap' warning

PA

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson says her party should not be welcoming the prospect of a large number of SNP MPs being elected at the expense of Labour in Scotland. She told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme in the wake of a warning from senior Tory peer Lord Forsyth that building up the SNP to undermine support for Labour in England could ultimately damage the Union. She said a "dodgy deal" between the Labour Party and the SNP would bring the nationalists "closer to breaking up Britain".

I think Lord Forsyth has fallen into a bit of a nationalist trap by framing this as a Scotland versus England thing, and it is not, because unionists across the whole of the UK are concerned and frightened about the sort of concessions that the SNP being in charge of a weak Labour government could bring."

Ruth Davidson

Get involved

Election live reader:

Question: What did the Lib Dems get out of being in coalition with the Tories? Answer: A lost referendum on AV, and a massive slump in support.

Question: What would the SNP get out of something less than a coalition with Labour? Answer: Not a lot.

Nick Eardley, BBC politics reporter

tweets:

Nigel Dodds says SNP has marginalised its influence by ruling out deal with the Tories. "Very likely" DUP members will play "critical role".

Get involved

Daniel Stringer, Leeds:

John Major has it spot on. It would be a disaster having a Labour-SNP deal in government. How can a UK government rely on nationalist party (whose foremost purpose is to break up the UK), to implement policy for the United Kingdom as a whole? I don't imagine the Queen would be keen to endorse this either, though this would never come out.

Donation repaid

The Independent

Some embarrassment for the Conservatives today, as it’s emerged the party has had to pay back £50,000 of donations. The returned money came from luxury hotelier Beatrice Tollman, whose husband Stanley Tollman pleaded guilty by agreement to tax evasion in 2008, the Independent reports. That is a little awkward, as the Tories have made a big deal of their efforts to clamp down on tax evaders. Here’s the response of Labour’s general election campaign deputy Jon Ashworth:

This is even more evidence that the Tory campaign is in chaos. It is humiliating that David Cameron has been forced to hand back over £50,000 of donations as they were connected to bank fraud. But it is also a reminder that the Tories rely on a small pool of big money donors because they are a shell of a party haemorrhaging members."

BBC's Lucy Manning

tweets:

About to @periscope from build up to Ed Miliband speech at Manchester Met Uni on health...

Mark Devenport, BBC Northern Ireland's political editor

tweets:

Peter Robinson says DUP would support either Labour or Conservatives if circumstances right or neither if they aren't"

George Eaton, political editor, New Statesman

tweets:

It's easy to forget that the Conservatives are standing candidates in Scotland. Race entirely framed as SNP against Labour."

English interest

The Barnett formula - which works out how much cash per head is given to Scotland, Wales and the rest of the UK - will remain in place under Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat plans. But not under those of UKIP, as the party’s economic spokesman Patrick O’Flynn has been pointing out. He told a briefing for journalists earlier that the other main parties in Westminster won't guarantee English votes for English laws, either. That leaves him concluding that "only UKIP will stand up for the interests of English and indeed Welsh voters in the House of Commons after the election". Mr O’Flynn also attacked David Cameron for being the “fundamental problem” at the heart of the Tory campaign.

BBC

They have a leader who doesn't actually really know what - to use that quote - his irreducible core is. What are his values? What does he stand for? I think it is much easier to tell what our leader, what Nigel Farage stands for."

Patrick O'Flynn

Get involved

Phil Brown, Lowestoft:

SNP are a political party in the same way as any other, admittedly their long term objective might be seen as destructive to the union but, in the meantime, they appear to represent a majority of their voters opinions. I cannot see, from a Conservative perspective, that it makes any difference, particularly if the alternative were 50 Labour MPs in Scotland which would give Labour a fighting chance of a majority. This endless squabbling because the “status quo” is being overturned is getting tedious.

Get involved

Martyn Wood-Bevan:

If the Tories don't want the SNP to break up Britain why don't they encourage their Scottish voters to tactically vote, in order that they elect more pro union Labour candidates to prevent them forming such a major grouping?

Iain Watson, BBC Labour campaign correspondent

tweets:

The venue for #Labour's health speech - Manchester metropolitan university #ge2015

BBC

Mark Devenport, BBC Northern Ireland's political editor

tweets:

Peter Robinson launches DUP manifesto in Wright Bus plant with London Routemaster bus as backdrop"

BBC

But for Scotland...

The Huffington Post

BBC

Earlier today David Steel made the point that the Labour-SNP question is a confused one, because nationalists taking seats from Ed Miliband doesn’t exactly increase the net total of "progressive" seats. But Sadiq Khan, who’s been speaking to the Huffington Post, claims the situation in Scotland could make a decisive difference in this campaign. "But for the possibility of losing seats in Scotland I think we would easily win the general election,” he says. Mr Khan also praises Ed Miliband for being “in the zone” - but calls on Labour campaigners as a whole to “amplify the noise” as polling day approaches.

Antony Holt

tweets:

Allowing The SNP an influence in Government is dangerous, but when John Major was propped up by the DUP for almost 5 years?"

Democratic Unionist Party

tweets:

Ready to launch the 2015 #DUP manifesto shortly."

DUP

JPCampbellBiz, BBC Northern Ireland economics and business editor

tweets:

The DUP line on deficit reduction looks closer to Lab than Con: 'the rush to...eliminate the deficit can have an impact on growth.'

Scottish Lib Dem launch

PA

Today sees the launch of the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ manifesto, in which leader Willie Rennie will argue voters can choose a “responsible” plan to combine a stronger economy (tick) with a fairer society (tick).

We are now closer to our ambition of creating opportunity for everyone. But with wins for the Liberal Democrats in this election we can make it a decade of opportunity.

Willie Rennie

He's expected to highlight the Lib Dems’ plan to fund the NHS, create more jobs and boost early years education. But will it be enough to help his party hold on to all of its 11 seats north of the border?

Battle for the grey vote

Victoria Derbyshire

BBC

A panel of over-60s is discussing what the parties could do to win their vote, live now on the Victoria Derbyshire programme.

'The second-longest suicide note in history'

writes:

"The Scottish National Party's manifesto does not strong-arm Labour. In fact, it condemns the SNP to insignificance"

Read more

Get involved

Duncan Gardiner:

It is inevitable that McMiliband will have to cosy up to Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP. He won’t have a choice if he scrapes into No10.

Fishing for votes (sorry!)

Getty

Has Nick Clegg taken the election's foodie theme back to basics and gone out to catch his own? Well, not quite, but he did get up at the crack of dawn to meet some Cornish fishermen.

Less negative

YouGov/Times

Here’s some polling numbers suggesting that Labour is doing well in this election campaign: 11% more people think they’re not ready for government than think they are, according to YouGov's research for the Times. That's not good news, you might think - but this is a significant improvement from the net minus 35% rating for the party seen in September last year. Ed Miliband has made some progress, too, on the question of whether he is a prime minister in waiting. Last autumn he was on minus 55% - but now that’s down to minus 29%. Well, Labour supporters will think it’s progress, anyhow.

Michael Savage, chief political correspondent of the Times

tweets:

Surely Alistair Darling is right - SNP can't be seen downing a Labour government. If Labour dare them to do so, it has big decision to make."

Don't panic

The Daily Telegraph

BBC

"We are about to find out just how well Britain deals with a proper constitutional crisis," Philip Johnston writes in the Telegraph as he marks St George's Day later this week. His argument is that the "likelihood" of Ed Miliband forming a government "while in thrall to a nationalist party" is bad news for the UK. That scenario would "test our constitutional structures to breaking point, and maybe beyond". Oh dear. "More than that, it could test our creaking, centuries-old union to destruction."

Gulp.

'Warm words'

Earlier Ed Miliband made clear he would not break his “iron rule” of offering more funding for the NHS; right now Labour will only stump up £2.5bn of the £8bn the head of the NHS says is needed by 2020. “Labour have time and time again refused to commit to this spending,” Liberal Democrat Health Minister Norman Lamb says in response. “Until Labour agree to make the necessary resources available, all they can offer is warm words and nothing more.” He says the £8bn is essential and that the Lib Dems are the only party to commit to spending it - and say how it will be funded.

Getty Images

Get involved

Sam, Sheffield:

Tory campaigns summed up:

Independence Referendum: "Scotland you're our brothers, your opinion matters to us, you're part of the system!"

General Election: "Scotland is trying to elect regional forces to wreck parliament, chaos, weak Miliband, get out out of our system!"

Get involved

Steve Clarke:

Whatever Miliband does with regards to the SNP it’s a lose lose for him. He either distances himself in which case he does not have enough seats to form a government. Or he gets closer to them and faces losing economic credibility and masses of English seats. Lose lose for Miliband however you look at it.

UKIP on Mediterranean migrants crisis

Robin Brant

UKIP campaign correspondent

Getty

UKIP's policy chief says the UK should accept refugees from Syria or Libya but that number should not be in the "tens of thousands". Suzanne Evans - pictured here at the UKIP manifesto launch - said the latest boat sinking and mass drowning of hundreds of migrants from North Africa was a "devastating tragedy". But she warned of what she called the "fine line" between the UK living up to its UN obligations on refugees and taking action that may "encourage people to come".

The party's economy spokesman Patrick O'Flynn said the sinkings were an "extremely bad outcome" of the UK and France-led military intervention in Libya in 2011.

Nigel Farage has recently that he believes that was the prime minister's biggest foreign policy failing, adding that the boat deaths should be on David Cameron's conscious.

Yesterday, he said if he was prime minister he would send the Royal Navy to assist in a military operation in the Mediterranean.

Election interns

The Sun

Toby Perkins, the Labour candidate for Chesterfield, finds himself in the spotlight today as the Sun Nation website reveals he’s been paying interns just £4 a day. Labour HQ has “clarified” the position of his staff by saying they’re volunteers who won’t be paid at all, it reports. But Lib Dem rival Julia Cambridge isn’t impressed. “This smacks of utter hypocrisy and is a slap in the face to local voters,” she says. “I’m gobsmacked.”

Jason Groves, deputy political editor, the Daily Mail

tweets:

Nick Clegg says second home owners 'would like to chip in a bit extra' as he unveils plans to double their council tax"

Meeting Auntie Patsy

The Spectator

Twitter

Genuine rallies and meetings, building a mass membership, fighting a positive campaign: Nicola Sturgeon is doing well because she’s breaking all the rules, the Spectator’s Fraser Nelson writes today. These are “tactics that belong in the 1970s”, he says. “Not only is this hugely un-modern but it is causing chaos.” It’s a chaos that extends to his family members; a picture of Ms Sturgeon and Alex Salmond sandwiching Mr Nelson’s “Auntie Patsy” has got the Speccie journalist feeling rather “odd”. But then this random encounter just reflects the SNP’s very different kind of campaign, he suggests.

Kevin Maguire, Daily Mirror associate editor & New Statesman columnist

tweets:

John Major knows much about chaotic government. His was a shambles and he had to stand for the Tory leadership in the middle of it

Tactics working?

BBC News Channel

BBC

Isabel Hardman, of the Spectator, says Conservative MPs are pleasantly surprised by how much impact the tactic of focusing on the SNP has had on the doorstep. Pollsters say people being questioned are now bringing up the idea of a Labour-SNP pact unprompted, so it is cutting through, she adds.

Owen Jones, Guardian columnist, says it is "disingenuous" of William Hague to deny this is a tactic - something the senior Tory did a short time ago on the News Channel. "It's a key linchpin of their strategy," Jones argues.

Dodds of the DUP

BBC Radio 4 Today

Getty Images

Nigel Dodds, deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, is on the Today programme talking about his party’s manifesto, which is being launched today. “We want to be key players in strengthening the United Kingdom against the tide of nationalism,” he says. “We think it’s important we enhance British identity and promote it at every opportunity.” Would the DUP support any other party in Westminster? “We don’t seek coalition, we don’t seek positions for ourselves,” he says. Instead it’s about “strengthening the United Kingdom. Mr Dodds won’t rule out working with either the Conservatives or Labour parties - but it sounds like their cooperation would only extend to propping up a minority government.

'Hardening language'

Iain Watson

Political correspondent

Ed Miliband has been forced on to this territory of talking about the SNP. He’s now reached a decision that he has to try and kill this off, as he did when attacked on Trident. Miliband’s language is hardening. What he’s saying now is if there’s a Labour Queen’s Speech, effectively he’ll do what he likes and challenge the SNP to support him rather than reach any deal in advance. That is a hardening of his language, but not really a hardening of his position.

Getty

Get involved

Peter Warrington, Nottingham:

I find it incredible warnings are now being made on the Conservatives raising the issue of the risk of the SNP. I've been seeing almost wall to wall press coverage of the SNP since the election began with Nicola Sturgeon treated almost as a pop star by the press. This risk of the SNP has already been with us for weeks.

Patrick Wintour, Political editor of the guardian

tweets:

A left wing SNP ransom note can be put in bin by PM Miliband unless Tories choose to be co-signatories. On what would SNP and Tories combine

Nick Clegg, Lib Dem leader

tweets:

Good morning beautiful Cornwall. Up at the crack of dawn with @AndrewGeorgeLD talking to fishermen at local market.

Nick Clegg

Laura Kuenssberg, chief correspondent and presenter of Newsnight

tweets:

You can hear anger still in Darlings voice about what Cameron did morning after #indyref when he switched focus immediately to EVEL [English votes for English laws]"

No free hits

BBC Radio 4 Today

BBC

Asked about the SNP's progress in terms of its membership over the last six months, Alistair Darling says "a lot of people think this is something of a free hit". You can't get change from independence, he says. You need a Labour government. And yet the Conservatives are "encouraging people daily to vote for the nationalist party... they've given up on trying to sell themselves on their own merits." Mr Darling says last year's campaign was "divisive" - again. He's making the same point again and again, and undoubtedly doing so with passion. "We cannot allow ourselves to be held to ransom by a party whose sole aim is... the destruction of the United Kingdom," he says.

Faisal Islam, political editor, Sky News

tweets:

Hague: don't think answer is to relax immigration controls, would create even greater flows. UK will play its role in any EU agreement"

'Destructive embrace'

BBC Radio 4 Today

Alistair Darling says his preference is for a majority Labour government - no surprises there. "The problem which we have got with the SNP is its reason for existence is it wants to have independence," he says. So why is David Cameron "bigging up the SNP?" The Conservatives have entered into a "dangerous, destructive embrace of the nationalists". He warns of "another divisive period" and says the Tories' "flirting with English nationalism" is pretty "desperate".

Darling on a Labour-SNP deal

BBC Radio 4 Today

PA

Here's former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling on the Today programme - the man who spearheaded the 'No' campaign in last autumn's independence referendum. Labour would try to form a minority government if it doesn't get over 50% of Commons seats, he says. The idea of a Labour-SNP coalition is "for the birds", he says. "The idea we would enter into an agreement which would be destructive not just for the party but for the country is nonsense - we won't do it," he says.

Second-home clampdown

Getty Images

Giving local authorities the green light to charge 200% council tax doesn’t exactly sound like a vote-winner -but the Liberal Democrats are pushing ahead with a limited version of the idea they think will help in areas where house prices are being pushed up by second home-owners. The party’s Countryside Charter, launched today, would introduce a levy to ensure “fairness in the housing market”. The policy could help the Lib Dem effort to hold on to their seats in Cornwal, which has the greatest number of people recording a second address in the country. More here.

Get involved

CK:

Have any of the political parties actually understood the problems with the NHS?

Ambulance personnel are struggling big time as they are acting as mobile hospital beds (they get front line abuse from above and below)

New staff can cost the NHS more, if not implemented with full contracts. NHS needs more hours worked to assist, not more staff to do the same, unless staff are going to make a proper difference.

Politicians need to understand before they make unrealistic promotions that will cost more to taxpayers without getting a better NHS.

Jeopardising the union

Norman Smith

Assistant political editor

What is interesting now is we are seeing senior politicians from across Scotland saying ‘hang on a sec - if you keep going on like this you are going to build up the nationalists, strengthen them, and fuel English resentment’. And the danger there, they say, is you actually jeopardise the union. The charge we’re beginning to hear is that Mr Cameron risks fuelling the break-up of the union that he wants to protect.

Iraq report delay

Newsnight

It didn’t make it out into the cold light of day in time for this campaign - and now the Chilcot Inquiry’s final report into the Iraq War is unlikely to be published this year,BBC Newsnight has learned. “Nobody thinks it will come out this year,” a source close to the inquiry has told Mark Urban. Politicians are virtually unanimous in voicing their frustration at the delay - including Tony Blair, who has denied he is behind it. Suggestions to the contrary, he’s made clear, are “incorrect and politically motivated”.

Getty Images

Ross Hawkins, BBC political correspondent

tweets:

Miliband on SNP: they want a second referendum, I'm not having that"

Hague: 'We can win'

BBC Radio 4 Today

"Of course we want a majority - we can win a majority."

William HagueConservative Leader of the Commons

Mr Hague insists Labour's only route to power is dependent on the SNP.

'Dangerous situation'

BBC Radio 4 Today

William Hague tells the Today programme the SNP has stated it would vote down a minority Conservative administration - and that is why Ed Miliband is in "a more dangerous situation" in relation to the nationalists.

Setting nations against each other

BBC Radio 4

PA

William Hague says former prime minister John Major will stress that the tactics of the SNP, if the party holds the balance of power with Labour, will "set Scotland against England and vice versa and that will be disastrous for the United Kingdom". By the way, this blast from the past picture was taken in 2001.

Miliband on EU migrants

BBC Breakfast

Reuters

On the situation in the Mediterranean, Ed Miliband says it's simply unacceptable for the EU to "let people drown". He adds: "It is a stain on the EU if we don't take proper action."

'Threatening the UK'

BBC Breakfast

Ed Miliband again rules out a coalition with the SNP. He then moves to attack the prime minister on the story of the day: "I think David Cameron is playing fast and loose with the United Kingdom... he's actually trying to boost the SNP." He wants to make it completely clear: What happens in a Labour government "led by me... will be decided by me". He says Mr Cameron should be "taking on the nationalist party" - like him, and then says: "I think David Cameron is threatening the integrity of the United Kingdom with the games he's playing."

Ian Dunt, editor of Politics.co.uk

tweets:

William Hague sounds utterly complacent about refugee deaths on the Today programme right now."

Libya tragedy

BBC Radio 4

William Hague tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme the capsizing of boats in the Mediterranean with the loss of hundreds of lives is "catastrophic". He says there is a moral imperative to save lives.

Carole Malone, Sunday Mirror columnist

tweets:

Bill Turnbull @BBCBreakfast letting Milband get away with talking nonsense"

NHS focus

BBC Breakfast

On the question of whether he's going to become prime minister, Ed Miliband does get a bit more evasive - he reels off a list of problems with the present government. "Viewers at home will make their decision about whether the NHS has gone backwards," he says. That was a remarkably deft reversion to Labour's topic of the day. "I really fear for what will happen to the NHS under David Cameron."

Libya help

BBC Radio 4 Today

PA

Now over on Today, William Hague, the Conservative former foreign secretary is asked about Libya. He says Britain is not in the business of exporting arms to Libya, but has offered the country £60m of assistance to ensure there's some politically agreed way forward. He says Britain has saved thousands of lives in Libya by helping oust Gaddafi.

Mansion tax

BBC

Ed Miliband admits that he'd be hit by the mansion tax policy Labour is pushing through to help fund the NHS. But he doesn't mind, he says. On that, and on the non-dom rule, he says it's Labour which is making changes so people end up "paying their fair share". All this is part of a "proper deficit plan" to ensure the government pays down the deficit every year "and balances the books".

A question of 'trust'

BBC Breakfast

Ed Miliband says "the trust in politics is too fragile" for Labour to make promises about funding the NHS in the future that it doesn't know if it can keep. "People can trust us because they know for years we've always invested in the NHS," he says.

Where's the money?

BBC Breakfast

BBC

Ed Miliband is being interviewed on BBC Breakfast, where he's asked about Labour's plans to help the NHS. He says his party will push through an emergency Budget that will get the "money flowing" into the NHS. What about the £8bn that the head of NHS England thinks is needed by 2020? Mr Miliband says he won't break his "iron rule" of making a commitment where "I don't know where the money's coming from". His focus is on a "rescue plan" for 2015.

Mike Smithson, polling analyst

tweets:

ENGLAND & WALES ONLY figures from today's YouGov poll CON 36 LAB 36 LD 7 UKIP 14 A 5.1% CON to LAB swing since 2010"

'Sound the alarm'

BBC Radio 4 Today

Asked about the SNP, and criticisms of the Conservatives' strategy of highlighting the possibility of nationalists helping Labour into power, William Hague denies that it's the Conservatives who have been stirring up trouble: "We have to sound the alarm here - we have the danger here that people who want to break up the United Kingdom will be running the United Kingdom in a few weeks' time," he says. He blames the media for talking up Scottish nationalism and says without a Conservative government Britain will be faced with the SNP making “impossible demands”:

They will demand higher taxes, higher welfare spending, weaker defences every single day for five years, and that will be disastrous both for families across the UK and for the whole future of the United Kingdom."

Libya legacy

BBC Radio 5 Live

In July 2012, William Hague said Libya was a "tremendous success story" - does he think the same now? The ex-foreign secretary doesn't answer the question directly, saying that the Mediterranean migrants are coming from other countries too. Pressed again, he concedes: "We have all struggled to put Libya back on her feet." The problem is that Britain isn't in control of the situation there, he argues. And when Muammar Gaddafi was in power he allowed migrants to attempt crossings to Europe. "We have absolutely stood by Libya," Mr Hague adds.

'No social care raid'

BBC Radio 4 Today

Getty

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham says the Conservatives have presided over a huge increase - a billion pounds - in the amount of money going to private agencies to provide nurses.

He won't commit a Labour government to an extra £8bn a year by the end of the next parliament as the Conservatives and Lib Dems have done, but he seeks to reassure listeners. “The Labour Party through its history has always done whatever it takes to secure the future of the NHS.”

He promises an extra £2.5bn by 2016, adding:

Crucially, I’m not going to do this - pay for the NHS - by raiding social care."

'Unacceptable'

BBC Radio 5 Live

Getty

Former foreign secretary William Hague is asked about the Mediterranean migrant crisis. "This is a completely unacceptable situation," he says, telling BBC Radio 5 Live his first instinct is to help. "We've got to work with other countries to help people stay in those countries." But Mr Hague says there is no "quick fix" to the problem. Should European countries take asylum seekers? "It can't be the answer to the world's problems to open all the doors of the European Union to unlimited immigration," he adds.

Dan Hodges, commentator at the Telegraph and Total Politics

tweets:

Labour are getting worried about the Tory's SNP assault now. Clearly is starting to cut through. Question is how far. Ukip, or wider?"

Steve Hawkes, deputy political editor of the Sun

tweets:

Nicola Sturgeon aka "The World's Most Dangerous Woman" up in front of Scottish TUC today ... Ticker tape will be out"

'Nursing crisis'

Department of Health

As Labour calls for more training for nurses today, the Conservatives are responding by saying that the coalition inherited a “nursing crisis” which included a plan to cut nursing levels.

We have turned that round with record high nurse numbers on our wards, 6,900 extra since 2010, and a new focus on compassionate care. Unlike Ed Miliband, we have committed the additional £8bn a year the NHS says it needs, which is the only way to ensure hospitals have the money they need to increase staff.”

Conservative spokesman

This kind of investment is only possible because of the “strong economy” built by the Conservatives in government, the spokesman adds.

Alastair Campbell, former Labour spin doctor

tweets:

Pathetic to watch Tory Party of Churchill/ Thatcher talk up a party that wants to break up UK because they have given up winning on policy"

Unexpected support

The Daily Mail

AFP/Getty Images

The SNP is getting a lot of flak from the rest of the UK but there are some nice messages in there too, Nicola Sturgeon has been telling the Mail. The Scottish First Minister says she’s been “surprised” by supportive messages from people in England and Wales who would like to see a “progressive alternative” to Labour. The interview, conducted after yesterday’s manifesto launch, also saw her dismiss the Mail’s claim that she is the ‘most dangerous woman in Britain’. She said: “Do I look dangerous?” If she calls for another independence referendum if Britain votes to leave the EU in 2017, the Mail suggests, she might be very dangerous indeed.

Kevin Maguire, associate editor, Daily Mirror

tweets:

Dusting down Major a tad embarrassing for Cameron. He was the last Tory leader to win an outright majority. In 1992"

100 seats in 100 days

BBC Radio 4 Today

BBC

When asked about childcare in interviews David Cameron has a habit of saying it is “the issue” that bothers families - and it’s certainly proving an important one on the doorsteps. In Amber Valley, where Tory incumbent Nigel Mills is defending a majority of just 536 against Labour, the parties' proposals are attracting interest from voters. One mother picking up her child from a nursery told the Today programme’s Sanchia Berg that a party's offer of childcare could sway her vote. "If it was more hours you could work longer hours, possibly full-time...so yes it would sway me," she said. You can listen to Sanchia’s full report here.

'Demeaned his office'

AFP/Getty Images

Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman doesn’t hold back as she attacks the Conservatives’ “desperate and cynical game” in talking about the SNP’s chances of having a big influence in the next parliament. Responding to Lord Forsyth’s comments in theGuardian, she says:

Even Conservatives are now saying that he is prepared to risk breaking up the United Kingdom because the SNP represent his only hope of clinging to power. He [David Cameron] is a prime minister who is willing to put narrow party interest ahead of the national interest. Every time people hear him talk about the SNP they know it's because he has nothing to say to the working people of Britain. David Cameron has demeaned his office and endangered our United Kingdom."

'Realm of fantasy'

BBC Radio 4 Today

David Steel doubts that Ed Miliband would do a deal with the SNP. “Stop to think about it - if the SNP do quite well, it will be at the expense of the Labour Party,” he tells Today. “The idea that having killed off a number of Labour MPs they’re going to embrace the SNP is in the realm of fantasy, I think.” He says the most likely outcome of the general election is a Labour minority government.

Steel on Scotland

BBC Radio 4 Today

BBC

David Steel - former Liberal leader and former presiding officer in the Scottish Parliament, to boot - says Sir John Major has “never understood Scotland”. He says Tory peer Michael Forsyth is more on the money when it comes to the negative impact of highlighting the nationalists' position. “The Tories are really doing the SNP a favour by bringing them to centre-stage of the campaign,” he says.

Incumbency benefits?

BBC

Pollster Joe Twyman of YouGov, speaking from a beautiful but rather chilly-looking stretch of the Wirral coastline, says the big change in this campaign has been “people’s expectations of Ed Miliband and the Labour Party”. His strong performance might not have had an impact on the polls just yet, he says, but it could do because “he’s exceeded what were very low expectations”. The big policy announcements really haven’t made much of a difference, Mr Twyman adds - the Conservatives’ right-to-buy policy was only approved by 39%, for example - and it’s now looking like the expected incumbency boost for the Tories might not materialise.

At the start of the campaign Mr Twyman says he would have expected those in government would have received “some sort of benefit” and would “pull away”. But “that doesn’t seem to have happened”, he says. “As each day goes past, the likelihood of it happening reduces. Will it happen? I think it’s now less likely than it was originally.”

Sunder Katwala, director of think tank British Future

tweets:

if politician of any party explicitly rules out a Coalition deal (cf LibDem Andrew George in St Ives), should hold byelection if it happens"

Farage on the BBC

PA

Nigel Farage is calling for a two-thirds cut in the BBC licence fee, telling a public meeting in Rochester yesterday that he thinks it should become “purely a public service broadcaster”. It’s the first time he’s put a figure on his long-held view that the BBC should be pared back - proposing the current £145.50 licence fee be reduced to £48.50. It follows Mr Farage’s accusation in last week’s TV debate that the BBC had fielded a “left-wing” audience. UKIP's lawyers, he added, would be writing to the BBC Trust to ask it to explain "the logic" behind the process of the audience's selection and seek assurances that in future he would be treated in a "free and impartial way".

YouGov, polling firm

tweets:

Update: Lab lead at 1 - Latest YouGov / The Sun results 20th Apr - Con 34%, Lab 35%, LD 7%, UKIP 13%, GRN 5%; APP -10

Tory queasiness

Norman Smith

Assistant political editor

Talking to folk around Mr Cameron, they believe the strategy of playing the SNP card in this campaign is working - is gaining traction - in a way that concentrating on the economy just isn’t. They are determined to keep doing this right up to election day. What I find interesting is the extent to which we may now see some queasiness in some sections of the Conservative Party, and amongst wise heads generally, that by playing the SNP card so hard you actually risk jeopardising the union.

'Short-term and dangerous'

Guardian

The biggest story overnight from the papers is probably that of Tory peer Lord Forsyth's comments in the Guardian. He's not at all happy with his party's approach to the SNP - and has been bothered ever since Scottish Conservatives propped up the SNP's 2007-11 minority government in Holyrood. So imagine how he felt when he faced up to the Conservatives' approach in this campaign of highlighting the dangers of the SNP helping Labour and, critics say, undermining the union in the process. Here's what hetold the Guardian:

“We’ve had the dilemma for Conservatives, which is they want to be the largest party at Westminster and therefore some see the fact that the nationalists are going to take seats in Scotland will be helpful. But that is a short-term and dangerous view which threatens the integrity of our country.”

Lord Forsyth of Drumlean

Today's papers

As you'd expect there's an awful lot of politics on today's front pages, with Sir John Major's speech leading the bill. That and a vitamin pill health scare. that is. Cast your eye over the papers in one handy place here .

Up with the larks

PA

If the early bird catches the worm - or fish - Nick Clegg looks to have bagged it this morning. He's out meeting fishermen in Newlyn in Cornwall. The Press Association's David Hughes has filed these snaps of the Lib Dem leader taking a tour of the Louisa N.

Nurses recruitment drive

Reuters

Labour’s NHS week continues today with a focus on nurses. Their policy summed up is that not only do they like nurses, but they also want more of them. Lots more of them, in fact: Labour's aim is to get 20,000 more nurses working for the NHS by 2020, and thinks it needs an extra 1,000 to begin training this year in order to achieve that goal. Ed Miliband will be out campaigning later at Manchester Metropolitan University, highlighting figures suggesting one third of NHS Trusts were investigated last year over concerns about safe staffing. More here.

'Daily dose of blackmail'

PA

This campaign has already seen a major intervention by Tony Blair - and now his predecessor in Downing Street, Sir John Major, is being rolled out by the Conservatives to speak out against the “recipe for mayhem” of a Labour government backed by the SNP. Sir John, who was a passionate voice against Scottish independence last autumn, is in partisan mode today as he warns Ed Miliband would be “held to ransom on a vote-by-vote basis” by Nicola Sturgeon and co. Our story previews his comments.

Good morning

Welcome to another day with Politics Live, 16 days to go until polling day. It's Alex Stevenson and Victoria King here. Stick with us and you won't miss a thing from the campaign trail.